Solar

The solar industry is expected to show steady growth over the coming decade largely due to rising energy prices, advances in technology through public/private partnerships and investments, and continued enactment of federal and state policies and financial incentives. more >>- Also seeGeneral Clean Techfor more helpful resources.

Wind

Wind power is considered a leading source of new electricity generation in the United States, with the potential of providing 20% of the nation’s energy needs by 2030. more >>

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is considered the foundation of a vibrant and sustainable green economy, and one of the most cost effective ways to lower energy consumption, reduce operating costs, and mitigate carbon emissions. more >>

Sustainability Education

Sustainability education refers generally to learning experiences that enable students to develop the knowledge, behaviors and skills to help create healthier ecosystems, social systems, and economies. For the purposes of the SEED Center, this includes resources to help build non-credit continuing education for the incumbent workforce and integrating sustainability curriculum into existing credit programs. more >>

Sustainable Ag., Food & Land

The Sustainable Ag., Food & Land sector covers the areas of organic farming, horticulture, culinary art, and landscaping. This sector includes organizations and resources that integrate environmental, social and economic factors into land use, food preparation, and land specific practices in an attempt to create a more sustainable future. more >>

General Clean Tech

The General Clean Tech sector is a space for resources that encompass multiple ‘green’ sectors. Many are applicable to the broader clean economy and sustainability-related technology and will serve the general clean tech community. Resources also provide valuable information on sectors that are experiencing substantive development in the sustainability realm, like manufacturing and smart grid. more >>

Transportation and Fuels

The Transportation & Fuels sector covers the area of electric and hybrid vehicle development and maintenance, other forms of alternative and sustainable transportation, natural gas, fuel cells, battery storage, and renewable fuels sources including ethanol, biodiesel, algae, and methane. more >>

Certifications and Industry Credentials

Certainly, one of the biggest challenges facing green educators is the rapid and mostly uncoordinated emergence of green certifications and credentials. more >>

Curricular Materials

These resources and materials have been vetted by industry and education experts, and while not in the form of specific educator tools, will assist in creating quality curricula for your classroom. more >>

Employment Industry Projections

While job training providers have been quite active in past years working with local industry to define the emerging green jobs market and potential job growth areas, most still struggle to forecast accurately regional occupational demand. The U.S. Department of Labor has made recent strides toward classifying green occupations and competencies which will help communities define and track green jobs (and colleges to design appropriate education and training programs). Given the uncertain renewable energy and efficiency industry outlook, and rapidly changing technologies, access to the most up-to-date industry studies and employment projections will be critical. more >>

Innovative Practices & Partnerships

The job creation potential of the green economy has led to some unique job training and economic development partnerships and collaborations. more >>

Professional Development Resources

This section includes promising facilitated learning opportunities, including “train the trainer” programs, standing conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice for faculty and staff seeking to further their knowledge of industry trends and requirements. more >>

Policy & Funding Sources

Included you will find links and descriptions of agencies and organizations that typically fund sustainability and green job training initiatives as well as those that provide important information on national legislation and policies relevant to the clean energy sector. CHECK BACK AS MORE ARE ADDED. This section also highlights resources that provide guidance on how to supply input into program and grant design for certain agency solicitations. more >>

Skill sets, Competencies & Career Pathways

This section includes lists and assessments of skill sets and competencies tied to the green economy – across the broad industry as well as within specific sectors. It also includes some critical resources that colleges can use to align programs and facilitate student transitions. Included are green energy competency models and newly-developed career pathways that allow movement across educational and training programs. more >>

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Featured Resources

Resources including national and regional conferences, and other training programs, that brings together the thinkers and doers who are committed to finding out how buildings really work. ACI resources aim at solving technical problems, learning new techniques, tools and materials, and building businesses.

More Resources

These guidelines are voluntary national standards to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce credentials for key energy-related jobs. Developed by the The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) along with industry stakeholder input, these guidelines will help develop high quality and nationally recognized training and certification programs.

The LEED Climate Resilience Screening Tool for LEED v4 Projects is a downloadable and flexible spreadsheet-based tool for green builders to identify resilience opportunities and risks by locating items that are either sensitive to changing climate conditions or that provide opportunity for climate adaptation, or both.

The Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Sustainable Building Science Technology (SBST) degree program will educate students to manage structures that are healthier and more durable, efficient, economical, and sustainable. This 90-credit degree program emphasizes upper-level coursework that focuses on building science, energy codes, building codes, and facility management.

This organization works to create and support programs, resources and partnerships that promote the development of green education facilities/schools and greening of the curricula. They provide a variety of resources to help educators provide curricula infused with environmental sustainability and green facilities concepts. With an emphasis on K-12, there are also resources for higher education.

Learning from nature to create non-toxic technologies is a fascinating subject described in these materials for educators who want to teach their students about biomimicry and give them a good grounding in the subject. Whether someone is completely new to biomimicry or relatively familiar with the subject, this information will provide a solid foundation about what biomimicry is, why it is important, and broad pedagogical considerations about how to teach this subject to students.

This free document, intended for campus staff and faculty, discusses how to involve students in green building projects and facilitate their contributions to the LEED certification process. Specifically, the guide outlines three options for engaging students – course work, internships and volunteer opportunities – and provides implementation options for each.

Green Building Certification Institute was established in 2008 to administer project certifications and professional credentials and certificates within the framework of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating Systems™.

The NAHB Research Center issues National Green Building Certification to all types of residential construction that meet the criteria of the ICC 700-2008 National Green Building Standard. Review this site for certification and education information.